The Big Swim is a Splash-tacular Success!

On Sunday 1st October, all three pools in Calderdale opened their doors for Healthy Minds and our first-ever Big Swim event - a sponsored swim.

Across the three pools, Brighouse, Sowerby Bridge and Todmorden, our amazing Big Swim participants took to the water and swam their own distance challenges, from 400 metres to 2 miles. They all achieved their goal and we couldn’t be more proud!

The Big Swim is an event inspired by our very own Healthy Minds champion, Nikki Stocks. Nikki knows from her own experiences that swimming is great for people’s mental health and wellbeing. As our ‘Big Swim’ celebrity, Nikki chose her own challenge – to swim a full mile across all three pools in two hours. Wow!

The Deputy Mayor of Calderdale, Councillor Sue Holdsworth joined our Brighouse swimmers to kick off the event with a splash. Nikki also set off here on her epic challenge. Staff, volunteers and supporters turned out to cheer everyone on.

Next Nikki went onto Sowerby Bridge to join her fellow sponsored swimmers already in the pool giving it their all. Another 26 lengths and then off to Todmorden to finish her challenge. She made it! Over 1 mile, in 2 hours across 3 Calderdale pools. The Mayor of Todmorden, Tyler Hanley, was there to congratulate her and present her with a much-deserved Big Swim medal.

All our Big Swim participants received a medal for their superb achievements and for the donations they received from their generous friends and family. So far, The Big Swim has raised over £1,000 and we’re still counting, as more funds keep coming in.

​The Big Swim went swimmingly and Healthy Minds plans to make this an annual event every first Sunday of October. If you love swimming or want to try something new, then why not pop along to your local pool? You will be welcomed and supported by the lovely staff there. You never know, next year you might set your own challenge and take part in The Big Swim. We hope so!

It goes without saying, thank you to everyone who got involved in some way with The Big Swim. The participants, Healthy Minds’ volunteers and staff, the pool staff, Nikki and her friends, and donors and dignitaries. A true dream team.